Starting Over
by angelsandroses
Summary: Edward and Rosalie's relationship was always deemed unbreakable. That is until Bella Swan moves to Forks and stirs things up. She finds herself falling for Edward, but the attraction doesn't just run on one side. All human. Better summary inside. Bits of all characters, but mainly Edward and Bella.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: **Seemingly the 'IT' couple in Forks High, Edward Cullen and Rosalie Hale's relationship was deemed unbreakable. But when Bella Swan moves to Forks, desperate for a new start, she manages to fall in the trap of falling for Edward. Only the attraction doesn't run on just her side, and Edward finds himself becoming one of the many boys tripping over backwards to get the attention of Bella.

**Disclaimer: **The only characters I own are any that you don't recognise.

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**CHAPTER ONE**

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Bella Swan had bid farewell to her life in sunny Phoenix only the previous day and already she was being made to go to school, as if living in boring Forks and having to suffer through the undecided weather (one minute scorching hot, the next freezing) wasn't enough. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't hate her father for it, though, because he had bought her a new car since he knew she would be so sour about the move.

Bella loved her father, she really did, but after not seeing him for almost four years, except the occasional summer visit, and then having to move in with him, things weren't flowing smoothly. They shared an awkward breakfast before he revealed the car, and her face lit up when she released that it was her's. It may not have been a convertible or anything snazzy like she'd always wanted, but it was definitely so, so much better than riding in Chief Charlie Swan's cop car to school, especially since he thought it was cute to put the sirens on like she used to enjoy when she was 5 years old.

She arrived in the student parking lot and expected, and got, all eyes on her; for all the wrong reasons. The bust up car wasn't as great as she thought, as it broke down near the parking lot entrance and she had to run towards the office through the sleet. She even fell over once, and she knew that people were already laughing at her behind her back.

Not surprisingly, her first proper day in humdrum Forks hadn't started out brilliant.

"How can I help you?"

Bella ran her bony fingers through her tatted, wet hair and said breathlessly, "I'm new here," before tugging it into a messy ponytail as the office attendant sorted out some papers and poked around in a set of drawers. She casually looked around at the other students that passed her as they made their way through the office and out of a door that led to the main hall, and took a mental note of their heads quickly snapping away from her gaze. There was nothing worse than getting caught staring, but Bella wasn't one of those bitchy girls that cared what people thought of her, so she shrugged it off and turned back to the woman behind the front desk.

"Here you go, dear," the old lady who ran the office smiled at Bella as she handed her things like a timetable, a school map – not that she would need it with the size of the place – and useless other documents that would end up crumpled at the bottom of her bag by the end of her day.

"Thank you," Bella said and impatiently tapped her foot while the lady – her badge that Bella just noticed said Mrs Mann – explained some things. Her mind was like a filter, but she caught up on a few things and nodded every few seconds to stop her from being rude.

"Well," Mrs Mann shifted in her seat and poked her glasses up her rather large nose, "off you go, then. You don't want to be late on your first day."

Once out of Mrs Mann's sight, she stuffed all the papers in her bag, keeping only one out. She read and re-read her time table for the day and her stomach did a half-excited, half-nervous flip when she saw her first lesson was biology. It was her favorite, back in Phoenix, which had given her the reputation of the geeky-science-kid. And because of that, she was nervous, as she wasn't sure if that was how she wanted to be seen here in Forks, where being clever actually didn't seem the best thing.

Half the students were already asleep when she walked into the room. "Sir?" she said quietly, the words almost catching in her throat. "I'm Bella." Apart from the quick overview she did at the beginning, she kept her head down and didn't bother to look at anybody else, not even when the whispers started.

"Of course you are!" The over-excited Mr Marlin woke a few of the students as he tapped his hands on his desk and stood up. "And I'm your new science teacher," he said, holding out his hand and bowing slightly. Bella blushed, but shook it anyway. "Take a textbook from this pile" – he tapped the stack of books that were obviously kept from the previous year as they were so torn and drawn all over – "and take a seat. Here at the front will do, next to Mr Cullen."

Bella had to double take when she saw the boy sitting on the seat next to her designated one. He had bronze hair and gorgeous green eyes that she swore, no matter how cheesy it sounded, had a glint in them. Of course, he wasn't paying attention to her, and instead was jotting something down quickly in a notepad, reading from the textbook.

Not wanting to cause a scene by standing at the front and gaping at the inhumanely, unfairly gorgeous boy, she hurried to her seat and propped her bag up on the table, pulling out a new notepad that her father had bought her – with flowers and other girly shit that Bella wasn't into painted all over it – and a pen. Mr Marlin told the kids to copy the questions from the board and answer them using the textbook, before getting the right equipment and starting the experiment labelled in the book.

"Is he always this happy?" Bella didn't even look at the boy as she spoke. She felt more comfortable as the noise in the classroom had risen to a level to which she couldn't be heard. Still, she hadn't meant to speak out loud, and could feel a blush make its way to her pale cheeks. She flashed him a quick glance after he didn't answer her, but he was still writing quickly and staring at the paper. "I was …" she coughed nervously, "wondering."

The boy grunted and, still not looking at her, spun off his chair and went over to a table at the back to get the equipment. Bella looked away and raised an eyebrow before double checking – she lifted the shoulder of her jacket and sniffed and even covered her mouth to see if her breath still smelt of toothpaste. It did. So why was he acting so weird?

"Do you know what we have to do?" Bella continued once the boy sat back down, loosening up a little and shrugging off her jacket. The teacher obviously took advantage of the cold weather and placed the heating to an unnatural standard. Even though her arms now felt a little chilly, she didn't want to look like an idiot and put back on her jacket, so she rubbed them to get warm. When he ignored her again, she blew air into her cheeks and popped them indifferently. Normally, she would be racing through the activity, but her paper remained blank and she kept up the act that she was dumb enough not to know the most basic of experiments – discovering how much glucose was in the different plants provided. She was a master at this.

"I don't."

"Well then just copy mine," he finally muttered.

Bella's eyes went wide for a second before she nodded and copied out a table from his sheet that he nudged over to her. His voice was deep and musty and had the ability to make her blush even though he barely said anything. She took a deep breath and nodded. "Thanks," she said, playing with a loose strand of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail.

"You're wel–" He finally looked over to her and his breath caught in his throat involuntarily. He gave her a small, crooked smirk and put down his pen that was actually hot from writing so much. He didn't speak for a while, just stared at her face. "You must be new here," he decided. "I haven't seen you before."

Bella bit her lip. "Yeah. The teacher, um, said before. He introduced me and … well, I don't know, maybe you just didn't hear him. I'm Bella," she held out her hand.

The boy shook her hand, still smiling, "I don't usually listen to anything Mr Happy says. Edward."

They stared at each other for a few silent seconds. Bella biting her lip and Edward smiling. He had heard a lot about the new girl, considering that the town was so small and news got around so fast, and the fact that she was his father's good friend's daughter. Dr Carlisle Cullen had gushed about the Chief's daughter's arrival for a while now and his little sister Alice couldn't wait to have a new friend.

"Mr Cullen, Ms Swan, stop holding hands and get on with the work!"

Mr Marlin and the rest of the class laughed. Mr Marlin was laughing because he had made a joke and found it hilarious, while the class were laughing at Edward and Bella because they were both blushing like crazy. Bella quickly withdrawn her hand from shaking Edward's and copied out the rest of the table. Edward just let out a nervous laugh and finished the rest of the work, every so often giving Bella a few answers and letting her copy his work. She'd never admit that she had all of it worked out in her head (and that most of Edward's answers were wrong).

Luckily, the bell went a little afterwards and Bella could rush out of the room, not before Mr Happy (she decided she liked that name better) gave out their homework, "Finish the rest of the table for tomorrow and complete question 6!" Her stomach did that stupid flip thing again as she left the classroom. That meant she would have biology the next day with Greek God look-a-like Edward Cullen.

She caught sight of him one last time as she pulled out her time table. He was walking with a tall, muscular guy with black, curly hair who was smiling smugly as he seemed to be recalling a story to Edward. Uninterested, Edward merely looked around the hall, but stopped when he saw Bella. She blushed because she, like the kids in the office that morning, had been caught staring. Edward just shook his head dismissively and gave her the crooked smirk, to which she had to smile back because of how breathtakingly beautiful he looked.

A small cheerleader with sticky out brunette hair caught her attention next. She ran past her giddily with a huge grin on her face that Bella had a feeling had been there all day, "Be careful, he's got a girlfriend!" And with that, she turned into the P.E. hall with a little laugh.

Bella burrowed her eyebrows together; surprisingly not for the news that Edward was dating somebody, but for the implication that she was interested in him. After the disaster of with a boy in her old school in Phoenix, she didn't want to start a new relationship with anybody, never mind with somebody that was obviously adored (how couldn't he be with those looks?) like Edward. She wasn't usually the girl that everybody was interested in.

Bella's next lesson was P.E., anyway, which would guarantee she wouldn't see him. At least, she hoped not, because she always sweat loads and ran like a headless chicken in any type of sporting activity. Basically, she was terrible, and she wasn't up for the idea of being seen. Incidentally, her father had annoyingly (he would argue lovingly) bought her a P.E. kit so she would have to join in and not fake an injury, or blame her being new as a reason to why she can't play.

Tiredly, she got changed. And in that moment, as a bunch of giggling girls in short skirts made their way past her (none being decent enough to apologise when they ran into her), she wished she was a cheerleader, since they had a guaranteed absence from P.E. and had a bogus reason why they didn't have to join in.

...

Even though it was only 10 a.m., the rumor mill was already turning. Gossip was evident in the cheerleader's voices that surrounded Rosalie Hale. They spoke and giggled as they all made their way to the edge of the field. Today was field hockey day, for the rest of the juniors, but thankfully, the girls didn't have to worry about unnecessary sweating and could just watch the boys train for their upcoming football game instead.

"Enough!" Rosalie yelled, stomping her foot and throwing down her blue and white pompoms. Her miniature tantrum stopped the other cheerleaders from talking and they quickly shut up. "What are you trying to say? _One_ at a time," Rosalie then added bitterly, a smile plastered on her face. She refused to believe that her boyfriend had taken a quick interest to the Chief's daughter – who she'd seen fall over hilariously that morning. When nobody answered, she turned to her childhood friend and raised an eyebrow, "_Alice_?"

Alice asked the nervous girls to leave politely before crossing her arms over her chest. She, like some other girls, had been in the same lesson as Edward and Bella when they were caught 'holding hands,' but everybody, except Rosalie, had seen the blatant eye sex going on in the hallway after first period. Alice reassured Rosalie that the girls were crazy. Her tone wasn't as interrupted as the girls as she wasn't nervous in front of Rosalie, having known her since the diaper days, "I wouldn't worry about it."

Rosalie slowly bent down and picked up her pompoms. She took a deep breath before regaining her composure, "Well, you best hope you're right. No Plain Baby Jane is going to stand in the way of my Prom Queen title" – at this, Alice rolled her eyes, but hid it from Rosalie by turning away – "now … girls!"

They practised their national's routine while their coach criticized their every single move. Alice was staring at the guy she'd had a crush on since forever, Rosalie's older and totally gorgeous rock band brother, Jasper, while Rosalie kept an eye on the hockey playing field. New Girl fell over at least five times on the ice during the whole match and, God forbid, had even had her eye on the boys' pitch while they played. Rosalie believed she was looking over in curiosity because she was new and therefore was nosy, and not because Rosalie's hot, hot, hot captain boyfriend was sweating – even in the cold weather – and looking like a Lucas Scott double in his blue football uniform.

"That's it for today!" Their coach yelled through one of those fancy speakerphones. "Get out of here! Go!"

Rosalie left Alice to sort out pompoms and made a beeline towards the boys' pitch. She heard some immature morons shout, "girl alert," a few times as she trudged in the disgusting mud, but she just placed her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes, ignoring them as she made her way towards Edward. Catching him off guard, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his lips adoringly, while he, although slightly confused at the PDA, wrapped his arms around her waist.

"What was that for?" he smirked. Rosalie just smiled back.

"Great job today. I can't wait for the big game," she said, then winked, blew a kiss and skipped off to join the rest of her cheerleaders as they entered the school building. Emmett McCarty, the guy who Edward's mom Esme had technically adopted when they were children, made a habit of laughing at Edward's girl troubles and walked up behind Edward.

"Still haven't broken up with her yet?" he patted Edward's shoulder and held his football helmet under his arm. He found having a girlfriend was too boring in the long run, and couldn't resist having many girls going at the same time. He rarely ever slept with a girl more than once unless she was extra hot. If not, he let them go gently, and had a new girl waiting for him in the next minute or so, some who didn't even go to their school. Some who were mothers, some who were married, some who didn't even speak English. He didn't discriminate.

"Soon," Edward said. He was going to, he was. But being Prom Queen meant everything to Rosalie, so maybe he could just make his way through junior year, give her the pathetic, plastic crown and then everybody would be happy. They'd mysteriously part during the summer, so she'd have enough time to find a senior boy or a lifeguard or someone else who she could cry to, and then eventually fall in love with, forgetting that Edward ever existed.

"Please," Emmett scoffed. "You'll still be saying that when you're 80 years old."

Edward went to punch his arm, but Emmett and the rest of the team were already walking back into school. Although he hated to admit it, Emmett was right. If he didn't break up with her soon, like he had said he would all the time for the past few months, he'd have to live with her for the rest of his life – always in his ear and annoying him, though not intentionally, at every turn.

…

Bella would lie if she said that her stomach didn't do the regular and flip when she saw the blonde bombshell in the cheerleading uniform go over to Edward and kiss him full on the lips for everybody to see. And she would also be lying if she didn't feel sick when the girl – obviously popular – walked into the changing rooms and gave Bella a glare that highlighted the 'if looks could kill' saying. If Bella didn't look away as quick as she did, she would have been in critical condition.

Forks High was starting to be liked by Bella, though, when they allowed her to take out her sandwich and eat it in the library. Where it was quiet, and where the head cheerleader, scary girl (Edward's girlfriend) wasn't eating her lunch. Bella ate alone in the corner and even rented out her favorite book by the end of lunch. At least after dinner that night with her father, she could escape to her room and read _Wuthering Heights _until her eye's bled.

And, the day was getting gradually better for other reasons, too, as when she ran towards her car at the end of the day, she didn't fall over. She slipped, truthfully, but it was right by her car and she only fell against the door before scrambling to open it and climbing inside quickly. After regaining her breath, she started the engine and drove away while the other students were still only just making their way out of the office.

After making her way into her favorite childhood diner that her father had told her to meet him in at last minute, she sunk into a chair opposite him, while he was pigging out with an extra-large burger and fries on the side with no salad. "Hey, Ch– dad," she said, placing her bag on the floor and managing a smile at him. He waved with one finger and mumbled something that sounded like _how was your day?_

"It was great," she said. She wasn't actually sure if it was. She may just have encountered the bitchiest girl in Forks who was subsequently dating the most gorgeous guy she had ever seen, living up to the teen movie cliché crap. And she was just the awkward new kid that would end up getting beat up or something by the girl. Perhaps she would be too worried about breaking a nail, though.

"You sure?" Charlie put down the scraps of his burger and lay back in his chair, loosening one of the buttons on his jacket so it didn't pop open because of how much he had ate. He eyed his only daughter suspiciously. "You don't sound okay."

"I'm just tired, okay?" Bella snapped a little rudely. She apologised quickly and asked her dad if she could go home and get some rest. He nodded, wiping his mouth with his napkin and ordering another beer, downing the last of his current one. Bella couldn't help but roll her eyes, but she did it behind his back so he didn't see. She made her way to her car, dumped her bag on the seat next to her and fought with the engine to bring her home so she could leave reality and enter the world of _Wuthering Heights_.

At this, she smiled and relaxed against the ripped leather seat. Disappearing from her reality seemed like a good idea at this moment.

…

Edward rubbed his head with his knuckles and entered the biology room with a yawn. Mr Happy gave him a quick grin and he simply smiled in response. He could probably get away with going to sleep if he sat at the back, but the room was already full, except one person, so he walked to his usual desk at the front.

_She _entered just moments later; looking flushed that was no doubt because of the newfound heat in Forks. Like yesterday, his breath caught in his throat again, just as the fan that Mr Happy had set up starting blowing against Bella's curly hair. He had to cover his mouth with his hand to stop smiling just as he saw Emmett from the back of the classroom, surprisingly not asleep or with a girl on each arm, giving him a death stare.

_You've still got a girlfriend_, his expression read.

Edward cursed under his breath as if Emmett could actually hear him, before turning towards Bella and smiling. "Hey," he said as she sat down. She merely greeted him with an apparent annoyed smile and pulled out her notepad with the work from yesterday on. He raised an eyebrow. How had their roles reversed in just 24 hours?

"What's up?" he asked in a completely casual tone. Bella shrugged.

"The usual," she said, as if he actually knew what 'the usual' was. Come to think about it, she didn't, either, but it was an answer that wouldn't start a conversation so she went with it.

Edward nodded. Whatever had made her in such a mood, he didn't like it. But he had a feeling what had happened, and he couldn't wait until the class finished and he could get out and find Rosalie. Maybe he could even break up with her and Bella wouldn't feel weird speaking to him anymore. Maybe they could even be friends, which, despite knowing next to nothing about Bella, he would like. It would be nice to have a friend that didn't throw themselves all over him at every single moment of every day.

Emmett tried his best to catch up with Edward after the lesson, but he only managed to when Rosalie was in front of them both. She shut her locker over and held her folder between her folded arms against her chest. She smiled. "Hi."

"Hey," Edward again rubbed his hair and felt extremely anxious for some unknown reason. He'd never broken up with a girl before. He had been dating Rosalie since he could remember. Well, since they were about 12, since that was the time that he discovered that girls didn't have cooties and they actually were pretty cool to hang out with. They had their first real kiss – not counting the ones when they were 3 years old and took baths together and didn't know what a real kiss was – just a few months after that.

"I was actually just coming to find you."

"Oh, really?" Rosalie batted her eyelashes and leant against the cold, metal lockers. Her heart did somersaults, in the best way possible, just seeing Edward's crooked smile that she had reserved to herself. Edward nodded, and Emmett, distracted by a busty cheerleader walking past, stepped away from them while they spoke.

"I need to talk to you."

"You do?"

"Yeah," Edward said, feeling out of place and uncomfortable. He, along with most of the other juniors, had a free period next so he didn't have a valid excuse to leave. "It's just …"

Rosalie did that thing again where she licked her lips, then bit them and her eyes lit up. Edward momentarily lost himself while staring at the blonde in front of him. The blonde that he was supposed to be breaking up with.

"I was just wondering if you would like to come to Mike Newton's party with me on Saturday?" he said so quickly it almost just passed in Rosalie's ear and out the next. But she heard, and so did Emmett, who snapped his head away from the desperate cheerleader to stare at Edward. What the hell was he playing at? He was supposed to break up with Rosalie.

"Oh, you," Rosalie joked, leaning forward to kiss his lips. "Of course. What made you think I wouldn't?"

Obviously it was a rhetorical question because she stalked off before he could answer. He turned and banged his head hard against the locker and repeated it before Emmett grabbed a hold of his shirt and spun him around. "You have been saying you'll break up with her for the whole summer," he glared down at Edward who now had a funny red forehead after hitting it against the lockers. "And then you invite her to Newton's party? What the hell is going on with you?"

"Why?" Edward questioned, not interested. "Do you want her for yourself or something?"

Emmett raised a sceptic eyebrow. "You know I'm not the girlfriend type. But she deserves so much better than you."

He turned then on his heel and went in the direction that Edward knew was Emmett's favorite spot in school: the courtyard, where he gets high with some other football jerks that Edward didn't want drilling in his ear about Rosalie and how he's playing games with her, either. So, he turned in the opposite direction and went to the place that Edward had never, ever been in, not in his whole time in the school.

The library, where he'd hope he'd find Bella, and where he knew nobody would yell at him.

…

Once again, Rosalie found the football jerks to be overly irritating as she walked through the courtyard. She hadn't expected to need to find Emmett McCarty, of all people, but after renting out a book for geometry from the library, she found New Girl and Edward enjoying a smiley conversation that she definitely didn't condone.

"Girl al–"

"Shut up, Ryan!" Rosalie hit the footballer over the head with her geometry book and carried on walking towards Emmett, her short, cheerleading skirt flowing as the wind passed her. Emmett looked up then, holding a joint between his fingers, which Rosalie quickly snatched and stamped on. After that, she definitely had his attention.

"What do you want?"

"McCarty, I can't believe I'm stooping so low," Rosalie admitted, sitting opposite him as the other footballers went back to smoking and talking about football and boobs and getting high. "But I need your help."

Emmett leant back in the chair and smirked. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, really," Rosalie rolled her eyes. "I need you to find out everything about Bella Swan and fast."

Emmett almost choked on the smoke that was still lingering in his mouth. "What?" he raised an eyebrow, laughing. "Are you high?"

"No, but you are," she said, smacking him over the head. "Snap out of it! And do as I say. If I can find a way to break her, she won't even have the chance to befriend Edward. Oh, when I'm finished with her …"

"Whatever," Emmett said, dismissively. As soon as Rosalie was happy and out of the door and in the school hallway again, one of the footballers turned to Emmett.

"Dude," he said. "Are you seeing her now or something? Has Edward finally done the deed?"

"No," Emmett put his feet up on the table and frowned. "He hasn't. But if New Girl has anything to do with things, he won't even need to."

**AN – **So this is the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed and let me know what you thought.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **As much as I'd love to, I don't own Twilight or any of the characters (except, of course, any you don't know).

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**CHAPTER TWO**

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"So what do you know about the Cullens?" Bella asked her father casually after school on Wednesday. They were eating in Charlie's favorite diner, having the usual burger and fries, while Charlie gushed about his weekend fishing trip with Billy Black – a guy in a wheelchair who had known Bella her whole life. She managed to get a few words in as he took a break from talking and chewed on his large meal.

Charlie paused and looked up. "Dr Carlisle's kids?" he asked. Bella shrugged, but obviously Charlie was right because he wiped his mouth and pushed his plate away, preparing to talk properly. After swallowing, he said, "Why? Are they giving you trouble at school?"

Bella ignored the urge to roll her eyes and shook her head. "No," she said. "I was just wondering. They seem like nice kids."

Bella had seen them eating together at lunch – the muscular guy named Emmett who looked nothing like them (apparently he was adopted), Alice Cullen (Bella had discovered she was the one who told her about Edward's relationship status) and Edward himself. They were joined by Rosalie Hale, the bitchy blonde girlfriend of Edward, and an older guy with messy, blonde hair who looked exactly like Rosalie except wore more eyeliner than her. Jessica Stanley, who Bella had become friends with after bonding over Shakespeare in English class, called him a 'sexy rock God, like a better looking Steven Tyler.'

"They are," Charlie confirmed, stuffing a few fries in his mouth and washing them down with some chilled beer. "So are you friends with them?" Bella shook her head and he nodded. "Oh, well, they do usually keep to themselves."

"Do you know anything about Rosalie Hale?" she gulped. Rosalie and her brother Jasper didn't seem to keep within the Cullen clan. In fact, neither did Emmett or Alice. Emmett was on the football team and always was with those guys or a different girl in the hallway at school, and Alice was a cheerleader along with Rosalie who was friends with everybody. Rosalie, however, seemed to hate everybody, despite being loved and worshipped by them all.

Edward, though, walked by himself in the hallway, stayed distant at the lunch table – staring off into space – and practised for football alone (Bella had seen that when she was doing P.E.) even though he was the most popular guy in school. She didn't get it.

"Her dad is one of the richest men in Forks," Charlie told Bella. "And her mother is in all kinds of committees and clubs across town. You can't go anywhere without hearing about or seeing Lilly Hale."

"They must be very glamorous," Bella grumbled, and she knew that because when you saw Rosalie, it was obvious that she came from a wealthy family. She never wore anything that wasn't designer (that was, of course, when she was out of her cheerleading uniform).

"Well, they are. They're actually from New York City but moved here when Rosalie and her big brother were young. Lilly was a socialite before Forks. She's a designer, too, so everybody across the world knows her name," Charlie said, as if it were wrong that Bella didn't. Perhaps it was, but she was never into – more like couldn't afford – all that designer crap.

When Bella nodded, Charlie chuckled. "Why do you care so much?"

"Just trying to get to know my classmates, Dad," she said.

…

"It sucks that you're not coming to Mike's party on Saturday, Bella," Jessica said as they were walking to a bench at lunch in the courtyard. Bella didn't know what Jessica's representation of 'sucks' was because she seemed pretty happy. Then again, it was almost impossible for Jessica to be upset about anything. She was _that_ kind of girl. "It's going to be so much fun. Everybody's going."

"You had me at fun and lost me at everybody," Bella replied, folding over her book and putting it back in her bag as they all sat down. Angela Webber gave Bella a small smile behind Jessica's back. She hadn't wanted to go, either, but Jessica had eventually persuaded her, using the fact that Eric Yorkie was going as an excuse. On the other hand, Lauren Mallory jumped at the chance to go, like always. Upon hearing that Tyler was going, she was already set, luckily for Jessica.

"Come on, Bella," Jessica said. "Don't be boring."

"Being boring is kind of my style," Bella replied honestly. She played with a piece of unappealing lettuce in her hands and smiled along with Angela. Lauren frowned at them both and flicked her hair behind her shoulders, while Jessica just started rambling on about how great Mike's parties usually were. Bella had a feeling Jessica had a thing for Mike, as she never stopped talking about him. Him, or Edward Cullen.

Bella's eyes darted around the courtyard and she ignored Jessica. She eyed the other tables – it was a hot day, so most students were outside – and tried to hide her disappointment. Edward wasn't there. Even though she had been avoiding him since Rosalie's glare earlier that week scared her away, she still wanted to see him, and she hadn't seen him any other time that day, not even at football training when she had P.E. Her lack of focus because of Edward and her natural lack of coordination had played down massively as she attempted to play netball and ending up hitting Eric in the head with the ball about ten times.

"Bella?"

Her eyes snapped back to her friends and she sheepishly smiled. Jessica stared at her with an eyebrow pointed upwards. "Who were you looking for?" she asked, but her tone implied that she already knew. Angela looked down at the floor, stifling a giggle; while Lauren said something that sounded like _don't waste your time._

"He's camping," Jessica said matter-of-factly. "With Emmett and his dad. He won't be back until Friday."

"I wasn't …" Bella trailed off. She just wanted to know where he was. That was all, but Jessica had a different idea.

"Are you missing his totally gorgeous face?" she joked with kissing/pouting lips. Bella shook her head, trying to cover her flaming face with her hair like it was a curtain. "I honestly wouldn't even try. Rosalie Hale would behead you within two minutes of even becoming friends with him." She said the last bit quietly as if she were frightened that Rosalie was nearby.

"So she's _that_ type of girl?" Bella liked to categorise the girls she knew. It was a hobby in Phoenix when she pretended to read a book at lunch – one that she'd probably read already dozens of times – when she'd listen to their conversations. Despite sitting with a group of girls similar to Jessica, Angela and Lauren, she was never actually included in their talks about parties and boys. They spoke to her about homework and things like that – leading Bella to believe that they were just using her for her science answers. She actually didn't mind not being invited to the 'cool' parties, though. Apparently Jessica wasn't like them that much, though, and didn't see that she really didn't want to go.

Angela took something out of her lunchbox, unwrapped it neatly and chewed it timidly. She nodded. "She's not so bad," she said quietly, obviously because she didn't want it to be heard, if not only by Bella. Jessica and Lauren scoffed at the same time.

"Not so bad? Was Hitler _not so bad_ either?" Jessica asked. She was obviously joking, because she had a small smile on her face, and it was a huge overstatement. And then she turned to Bella and grinned, "That reminds me. Rosalie isn't going to be at the party. Will you come now?"

"How does that change anything?" Bella asked, her voice shaky because she just received a wave of excitement. It changed a lot, actually, but she still didn't like parties. That being said, it might not have been a bad idea to get out of the house for a day …

"Oh, please," Jessica rolled her eyes playfully as they packed up their things. "We all know you want a piece of Edward Cullen." They all giggled as they hoisted their bags up onto their shoulders, stood up and prepared to walk away. Bella stayed sitting down, smiling at her tray with her hair a brown sheet over her face.

"That is so not true," she called as they walked away. _Or maybe just a lit__tle, _she added in her head.

…

"I don't see what you're problem is," Alice huffed as she sat down on a large boulder like rock in the school parking lot and pulled off her trainers. She massaged her feet intensely, relaxing as the pressures of that day's cheerleading practise were released. "She's actually not that bad."

"Not that bad?" Rosalie raised an eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips. "She's like the devil. Worse, even."

Alice smiled sarcastically. "Well, Rose, you pretty much just described yourself." She proceeded to rub her ankles before shaking her head. "You don't even know her."

"Neither do you!" Rosalie argued. She crossed her arms and leant back against the wall. Waiting for Jasper was always the worst part of her day. Since her car was in the shop and Alice couldn't drive yet, they had to get a ride home from her brother because Edward was camping. It wasn't so bad for Alice, having lusted over Jasper for pretty much her whole life, but Rosalie would surely kick his ass when they got home for taking ages.

"Yeah, but it would be nice to get to know her," Alice complained. Her mood suddenly brightened as she heard familiar coughing. Rosalie rolled her eyes as a smile came to Alice's face and she set her eyes on the corner behind the gym. Jasper was not surprisingly smoking, and dawdling towards them from behind the corner, coughing out grey smoke each time he inhaled.

As soon as Jasper reached them, Rosalie hit him over the head with one of her folders. Alice shot her a nasty glare and smiled at Jasper. "Hey, Jazz," she said, using a nickname that she had given him when she was a toddler and couldn't say _Jasper_ properly. He merely waved, rubbing the spot on his head where Rosalie hit him. She wasn't at all butch, but she sure was strong.

"Hey, Al," he said as he unlocked his car and stuck his guitar on one of the back seats.

But Rosalie took a different approach to him as she climbed in the front seat and slammed the door. "You know, if you carry on smoking those cancer sticks, you're going to die before you reach your 19th birthday."

…

Bella tugged on the ends of the little black dress that she was trying on and frowned at her reflection. She should have chosen something with color because it just made her look like Wednesday Addams against her pale complexion. But Jessica was knocking impatiently on the changing room door and begging her to show her what it looked like. It didn't make Bella feel any better that Lauren was outside, too.

Slowly, she opened the door and stepped out. "It doesn't feel right," she mumbled. But Jessica and Angela just gasped. They complimented her endlessly, while Lauren slumped lower on the couch. She had already bought her dress for Mike's party the next day, but was forced to come along with the others while they bought theirs. Bella started to wonder if she actually was forced, or whether she just had no friends other than Jessica and Angela and secretly wanted to come.

"Well, I think you look gorgeous," Jessica said. "And I also think that what would go well with it is–"

Bella found herself ignoring Jessica one more time as she noticed, in the corner of her eye, the familiar swish of the Forks High cheerleading uniform. She figured it would be better to coward away in the changing room, but the hair wasn't long and blonde and didn't flow to mid-back. It was a short, cropped, brunette bob and she relaxed. It was Edward's sister Alice.

"–and these shoes. What do you think B– wait, Bella, were you listening to any of that?" Jessica crossed her arms. Bella turned back to Jessica and smiled apologetically. Alice had already noticed them, and Bella wasn't sure, but she thought she saw her making her way over to their corner of the department store.

"Sorry. Shopping talk doesn't really appeal to me," she said nervously.

Surely enough, Alice walked past them, slightly brushing Bella's shoulder as she did so. It was like it was a blatant excuse just to talk to her, because at that moment, she turned around and her eyes widened, her mouth agape. "Wow … Bella, is it?" Bella nodded. "Cute dress. Newton's party?"

Lauren rolled her eyes as Bella nodded, blushing a little. She felt really uncomfortable in the dress and she certainly didn't feel 'cute.' "Great," Alice's eyes darted around for a while before she spotted something and grinned. "Definitely cute. But I think that" – she pointed to a blue, ruffled dress at the other side of the store – "would look better."

And with that, she turned on her heel and walked away. As she did, Bella noticed the label on the ironed and pressed dress that she was holding in a large, clear bag. _Lilly Hale Designs, _it read. _Go figure_, thought Bella, but then she thought back to the dress that Alice pointed out and turned to look at it.

"Come to think of it," Jessica joined her in staring at the dress. "It _is_ pretty cute."

Bella's mind was set then. She sighed in relief and ran back into the changing rooms as Jessica and Angela laughed. They had chosen gorgeous knee length flowing dresses, while Lauren opted for the tightest. Everybody knew that she was trying to impress Tyler, even if he was completely clueless about it. He wasn't the brightest of people, but he made up for it in looks. He was even nearly on the football team. He was a reserve, though, and it didn't look like he was going to play anytime soon with the coach preferring Edward and Emmett over him.

When Bella returned, she held the now crumpled black dress in her hands and had messily arranged it on the hanger. She couldn't wait to get the blue dress, even though she wasn't big on dressing up. It was okay, though, because she'd probably just wear a pair of Converse shoes with it and that would be that. She hated high heels more than Rosalie Hale hated her boyfriend having friends.

The thought of Edward made her giddy and, despite wanting to get as far away from Port Angeles as she could and just stick her head in a book for the rest of the night, she tried on the dress. It fit perfectly, and Jessica almost had a heart attack when she saw her wearing it. Angela smiled happily. And Lauren? She was still sulking in the chair at the other end of the store.

…

Rosalie chewed hungrily on a ripped off piece of bread roll and washed it down with a swig of champagne. She wasn't supposed to, but she had broken into her mother's liquor cabinet and opened the bottle. It was Saturday afternoon, the time when she should have been getting ready for Mike Newton's party, but instead she was drinking and eating – basically making herself feel sick barely before the morning had ended.

Then her phone started vibrating and she was so happy that she almost dropped the bottle she was clutching tightly. She set it down, swallowed the bread and picked up her phone, propping herself up on the counter as she did so. She had been waiting for the call ever since 9 that morning, and waiting made her nervous. She ate when she was nervous.

"Edward!" she exclaimed happily, relaxing a little. "Finally. I've been waiting for you to call."

"Yeah, sorry," he replied grouchily. He had obviously just woken up; probably being alerted from the amount of times Rosalie had called him. Eventually, she gave up and text him telling him to phone her back. "What do you want?" he asked tiredly. He wasn't in the mood for her loud and preppy voice booming down his ears, especially since he had just gotten back from camping about 3 hours before.

"Well," Rosalie played with the hem of her pyjama shorts and smiled. "My daddy's back in town for the weekend and he asked me to join him for dinner tonight. And I was wondering if you wanted to come."

Edward paused for a moment. Rosalie couldn't see, but he sat up in bed and rubbed his hair, thinking of ways to say no without upsetting her. He really, really didn't want to upset her, and then have to think about it all throughout Mike's party. Speaking of that … "What about the party? I thought you wanted to go with me."

"I did," Rosalie lied. "But it's his first time in town for months and he's already booked the table. He flies out for another trip tomorrow and it'll be my only chance to see him until my birthday next month."

"Why doesn't he just bring your mom and Jasper?"

"_Edward_," Rosalie whined. She didn't want to go to a pathetic, sweaty, cheap party when she could be dining fancily and drinking the best champagne with her dad. Unlike her mom, her dad actually kept up the conversation, asking her about collage, and cheerleading, and gymnastics, and how she was coping with her AP classes. Her mother just scrutinised everybody in the restaurant, holding her head high and not hopping off her high horse. Besides, her mom was out of town, too, in Paris or something, promoting her fall collection. She didn't care too much about not seeing her for a while, but she cared a hell of a lot about seeing her dad, the only person in the world that she could confidently talk to like an adult and not like a stupid teenager like the girls in her school.

"Please?" she continued. "He's my best friend, Edward, and you're the only person I want with me. You know he loves you."

Edward mumbled something in response that was inaudible to Rosalie. He didn't actually mind being with Rosalie and her father for dinner, but what he did mind was not drinking proper beer that Mike supplied (Rosalie's family preferred champagne and expensive, French wine) and being able to just go and have a smoke. Rosalie hated smoking, and in the restaurant, he wouldn't be able to just leave to have one.

"I know you're thinking about New Girl," Rosalie carried on, flicking her hair behind her shoulders and growing more frustrated by the second. _Just say yes! _She egged him on in her head, as if he could read minds. If he could, he wouldn't like it very much, because she was talking an awful amount of crap about Bella in her head. "I honestly don't even know why you want to be friends with her when you've got me. And Alice. And even Emmett McCarty. He may be a using creep but he's your best friend. You don't need any more."

"I know that," Edward replied moodily. He actually wasn't thinking about Bella, but on hearing Rosalie say that, he started to think more about it. He didn't even know if she was going to the party, but if he was, and he wasn't, he would be pretty annoyed about it. He wished he had an excuse that would get Rosalie off his back, and then he could work on befriending Bella at Mike's party.

"So you are thinking about her?"

"No! Goddammit, Rosalie, I–"

"Great," she said. "Then I'll see you at my house at 8." And then she hung up the phone.

…

Mike's house was already full at 6. Just before that, he was frantically searching his parents' alcohol cupboard – and checking their secret hiding places – trying to find some more booze for the partygoers. He'd thought there would only be about 20 people, but then his door knocked and all of a sudden, the whole football team – minus Edward Cullen – and the cheerleading squad – minus Rosalie Hale – were making their way in. And then more people, seniors like Jasper Hale, came in holding all kinds of different types of alcohol.

"Thought you mind need this," somebody winked and tapped Mike on the arm. It was a bottle of vodka, and then a bag of potato chips. They just multiplied as the guests grew, and then his house was packed. People were spilling out of his back garden, the front door, upstairs – anywhere they could. They were making out, or playing around in Mike's little sister's pool, or dancing horribly at the loud music.

And then he finally relaxed, even though he could already picture the place getting ruined in 10 minutes flat.

Amongst the group of people, Bella was linking arms with Jessica and trying to navigate herself through the crowd without falling over. Jessica had yelled at her that morning when she tried to put on a pair of black Converse trainers, and instead gave her a pair of extremely high wedges. They were cute, she'd admit, but they weren't ideal for somebody with such lack of focus like Bella.

"Bella! Hey, you made it!"

She didn't even know who it was but they were hugging her so they must have been a friend. Jessica was somehow separated from her arm as the stranger/friend embraced her. "Um, hi," Bella said, and as they pulled away she saw that it was Eric. A.K.A the guy she had momentarily brain damaged in P.E. that week.

"You look great!" Eric said. And Bella could almost feel the jealously radiating off of Angela. She felt like one of those people who just felt everybody's emotions – if those types of people were even real. Needless to say, she hated it. But Angela didn't do anything and she certainly wasn't the type of person to hate somebody for it. Still, she didn't want an Eric clinging to her all night; complimenting her and making her blush, simultaneously making him believe she liked him.

"Thanks," Bella said. "Actually, Angela helped me pick the dress out."

It was a stupid attempt to get Eric to turn his attention to Angela, but it worked. _I did? _Angela mouthed, to which Bella replied with a clumsy smile. Then she headed off, not bothering to wait. But she did have to look back, just to check, and she saw that Eric and Angela were making conversation, which was a start.

Then she found herself bumping into something hard – a wall probably. Without the aid of Jessica's arm, she was useless trying to wall in the 6" heels. But when she opened her eyes – she had a tendency to close them when she fell or did something along those lines – it wasn't a wall. Instead, the tall, scary adopted brother of Edward, Emmett, was standing in front of her with an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said, her hands flying to her mouth. But Emmett just shook his head, laughed and walked away.

Bella caught her breath again and looked around the room. She was surely in the biggest room in the house – it had a pool table, a few bookcases lining the tall walls and a lot of drunken teenagers. But Edward wasn't there. And she looked around in the other rooms, too, but he wasn't there, either. Eventually, she gave up looking and slumped down on an outside swing. She took off her painful heels and rubbed her feet miserably.

Edward wasn't coming, so what a waste of an outfit.

…

"So what college are you interested in, Edward?" Mr Hale placed down half a breadstick and linked his hands together, leaning on the table. Edward sheepishly shrugged, scared of saying _there's still about two more years left to worry about that. _He just told him that he wanted to stay with Rosalie and go wherever she wanted to go. He said he didn't mind.

What a joke.

In fact, he didn't want to get out of Forks like Rosalie did. She wanted to go to Yale University, and then move back to New York. What she wanted to do with her life was unknown. But with 'daddy's' money, she didn't have to worry about anything. She could just be a housewife and be on one of those ridiculous reality shows they do, and she'd earn more money.

He actually wanted to stay in Forks and maybe work at a little book shop. He'd have to open one, of course, because the nearest book shop was in Port Angeles, just outside of Forks. Then he'd want to own a little cottage – again, he'd have to build one, but he could use his trust fund for that. He didn't even want to go to a major college.

"That's great, isn't it, daddy?" Rosalie spoke up, rubbing her hands on Edward's knee. To anybody else, it would be suggestive. But Rosalie wanted to 'wait until marriage,' so it wasn't suggestive to him. He was used to the hints that weren't actually hints, and he was sure Rosalie did it on purpose just to tease him. "We can go to college together and then buy a small condo or apartment on the Upper East Side. Something like that." She turned to Edward next. "Right?"

"Sure," he nodded, not actually paying attention to what he was agreeing to.

Their meals came, so luckily he didn't even have to do any more talking. As they ate their steaks, he peaked around the rest of the room. A young man and woman – both strikingly beautiful with bronze/blonde hair – were sitting at a table. Then the man got on one knee and pulled out a box out of his pocket. The girl's expression read _I had no idea _but the boy's grumpy, fake pleased expression proved otherwise.

Edward shuddered. It was easy to picture him in the same position, with the same girl who was digging her nails into his legs and talking with her father about her future. And he had no idea what he wanted to do with his future, but as he picked up his glass of champagne and pulled a disgusted face at the bubbling liquid, he knew where he wanted to be in that precise moment.

And it wasn't there.

**AN – **not happy at all with this chapter since I had to re-write it because for some reason it deleted itself (a lot of my files are doing that lately). But let me know what you thought please!

And I'm sorry that Emmett and Rosalie didn't focus much together in this chapter. But I didn't know how to include it without making the chapter really, really, long.


End file.
